Void Cultivation

The luxurious golden carriage, along with the seven cages tied behind it, slowly advanced until it reached the beginning of the queue.

The moment it arrived, both cultivators and ordinary people instinctively shifted to the sides, creating a wide path for it. Some people looked at the carriage with curiosity, while others were openly wary. However, whatever hesitation they had completely vanished the moment their eyes fell upon the people inside the cages.

The prisoners sat motionlessly within them.

Their eyes were completely blank, devoid of even the slightest trace of emotion. Their expressions were listless, and their bodies remained unnaturally still. They looked as though they had already died inside, leaving behind nothing more than empty shells that continued to breathe.

No one dared to stare for too long.

There was something unsettling about them that made even cultivators uncomfortable.

The team supervising the teleportation formation was extremely respectful toward the luxurious golden carriage. They did not dare to delay its departure or ask unnecessary questions. In a short amount of time, the carriage and the seven cages were placed within the teleportation formation.

A brilliant light flashed.

The entire carriage disappeared from sight.

The moment it left, the tense atmosphere surrounding the queue gradually relaxed. People began whispering among themselves again, their voices carrying traces of relief now that the terrifying presence had departed.

However, no one dared to make too much of a fuss.

They had all seen enough to understand that the people capable of riding in such a carriage were not individuals they could afford to provoke.

"Senior Disciple Grey... What’s happening?"

Iria spoke in a low voice when she heard the numerous mutterings coming from the people ahead of them.

Grey’s eyes narrowed slightly.

He glanced toward the front of the queue before answering in a calm voice that only Iria could hear.

"Everyone became riled up after the golden carriage left. They probably saw something they shouldn’t have seen." He paused briefly before continuing. "But I suppose that within the next three hours, it’ll be our turn."

Iria nodded silently.

Just as Grey had finished speaking, several people joined the queue behind them.

However, unlike the others, they deliberately maintained several feet of distance from Grey and Iria.

Grey casually glanced backward.

His eyes immediately landed on a group of six youngsters wearing red robes. A flaming insignia was embroidered prominently on the backs of their clothes, and each of them had a somewhat arrogant expression.

Their eyes were slightly bloodshot, and traces of excitement could be seen within them.

However, despite their arrogance, they restrained themselves while standing in the queue.

Grey’s gaze lingered briefly on the flaming insignia.

He was not familiar with these people, but he recognized the symbol.

These youngsters were disciples of the nearby Flaming Giant Sect.

The Flaming Giant Sect was not considered a particularly powerful sect in the region. The majority of its members were merely in the Qi Accumulation Realm. Its Sect Master had reached the eighth level of Qi Accumulation, while its ancestor could be considered somewhat talented, having successfully entered the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Grey had heard of the Flaming Giant Sect several years ago.

At that time, however, he had not paid much attention to them. The sect operated quite far away from the scavenger campsite, and their influence had never extended into the areas where Grey had spent most of his time.

Nevertheless, the Flaming Giant Sect was somewhat similar to the Shadow Sect.

They ruled over their local region, and the ordinary people and weaker cultivators living within their territory were all under their influence. Their authority was not necessarily absolute, but in their territory, very few people dared to openly challenge them.

Since the Flaming Giant Sect was located relatively close to Glory City, its disciples could often be seen moving around the city.

Grey only gave them a casual glance before turning his attention forward.

Their strength was nothing worth worrying about.

Even if all six of them attacked him at once, they would not be capable of causing the slightest injury to either him or Iria.

To Grey, they were no different from a group of insignificant ants.

However, barely a few minutes after joining the queue, one of the youngsters suddenly noticed something.

The person standing beside Grey had a considerably more feminine figure.

Her appearance was also striking.

Although Iria did not deliberately release any sort of charm, there was an unconscious allure surrounding her that naturally attracted attention. To cultivators who had only recently embarked on the path of cultivation, such an appearance was even more difficult to ignore.

The six youngsters exchanged glances.

They had only recently begun cultivating, and their cultivation had given them a sense of superiority that ordinary people could never provide.

After becoming cultivators, they felt as though they had risen above the masses.

In their minds, they could defeat almost anyone.

As their gazes repeatedly landed on Iria, the restraint they initially displayed gradually disappeared.

One of them finally grinned.

After exchanging a few words with his companions, he stepped out of the queue and walked toward Iria.

"Hello, pretty thing."

His voice carried an unmistakable trace of lust as he approached.

"Do you want to hang out with us? We’re very fun, and we’re looking for someone as pretty as you."

As he spoke, he reached out toward Iria’s shoulder.

He did not even notice Grey’s expression change.

He did not see Grey move.

There was only a brief blur.

Then—

Flash!

A streak of red suddenly appeared.

The youngster’s body froze.

His eyes widened slightly.

For a moment, he felt strangely weightless, as though he had suddenly fallen from a great height.

Then he saw something that made no sense.

His own body was still standing.

But his vision was moving away from it.

Only after several moments did he realize that the headless body standing before him was his own.

By then, the light in his eyes had already begun to fade.

His head struck the ground.

Thud!

The sound was strangely loud in the sudden silence.

The headless body swayed for a moment before collapsing sideways. Blood immediately gushed from the severed neck, staining the ground beneath it.

Everything had happened too quickly.

No one in the surrounding queue had managed to react.

The remaining five youngsters stood frozen in place.

Their expressions changed drastically when they finally understood what had happened.

One of them instinctively looked toward Grey.

Grey was already looking back at them.

His eyes were cold.

There was no anger in them.

No killing intent that could be easily sensed.

Only an indifferent calm.

The youngster’s heart trembled.

Before he could even take a step backward, a sharp pain suddenly erupted in the center of his forehead.

His pupils contracted.

A black dagger had appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

It had pierced directly through his forehead.

The youngster’s body stiffened before collapsing onto the ground.

He died instantly.

The dagger disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.

The moment their companion’s corpse hit the ground, the remaining four youngsters finally understood the terrifying reality before them.

Their faces turned pale.

They began trembling uncontrollably.

"Run!"

Someone shouted.

The four of them immediately attempted to retreat.

But they were far too slow.

Grey’s figure flashed.

To the surrounding people, his movement was nothing more than a fleeting blur.

One of the youngsters suddenly felt his vision spin.

The world seemed to turn upside down.

The last thing he saw was the horrified expression of one of his companions as they desperately attempted to escape.

Then everything went dark.

Thud!

His head landed on the ground.

His body collapsed a moment later.

Less than two breaths had passed since the first attack.

Yet three of the six Flaming Giant Sect disciples were already dead.

Two had been beheaded, their severed necks continuously spilling fresh blood onto the ground.

As for the third, a narrow hole had been pierced through his forehead. The black dagger had entered through one side of his skull and exited through the other, killing him before he could even comprehend what was happening.

Blood and fragments of brain matter stained his clothes and the ground beneath him.

The surrounding queue had fallen completely silent.

No one dared to speak.

Even the people who had previously been whispering among themselves remained motionless, afraid that the slightest sound might attract Grey’s attention.

The remaining three disciples of the Flaming Giant Sect were already retreating as quickly as they could.

Grey did not pursue them.

His eyes remained cold and indifferent as he watched them flee.

He had no intention of wasting his time hunting them down.

The reason was simple.

Those three had displayed malicious intentions toward both him and Iria.

More importantly, their gazes toward Iria had been filled with undisguised lust.

Grey had no intention of tolerating such people.

If they had simply looked at Iria, he would not have cared.

But attempting to touch her was an entirely different matter.

And for Grey, once someone crossed that line, their life was no longer worth preserving.

What made the situation even more insignificant was that Grey had not used his cultivation at all.

He had not activated his spiritual energy. He similarly had not utilized any profound technique.

He had not even relied on the full strength of his physical body.

Everything had been accomplished purely through his physical strength, speed, and precise control.

The three youngsters had not even understood how they had died.

To Grey, their strength was simply too weak.

If he had truly unleashed his cultivation, the result would have been even more overwhelming.

Grey slowly turned his gaze away from the fleeing figures and looked toward the three corpses lying on the ground.

His expression remained completely aloof.

"Eldest Brother Grey..."

Iria’s voice finally broke the silence. She stared at the three corpses on the ground with a complicated expression. She had already witnessed Grey’s ruthlessness before.

However, seeing it again still left her somewhat shaken.

The three youngsters had died so quickly that she had barely been able to react.

There was no warning. No hesitation.

Grey had simply decided that they should die, and in the blink of an eye, their lives had been extinguished.

Iria lowered her gaze slightly.

She could not help but wonder just how many times Grey had experienced situations like this to become so indifferent toward taking someone’s life.

"Eldest Brother Grey..."

She called again, her voice carrying a hint of uncertainty. Grey turned his head toward her.

"What is it?"

Iria opened her mouth but remained silent for several seconds. Her eyes drifted toward the corpses once more.

"Nothing..."

She eventually shook her head. Grey did not ask further.

He simply turned his attention back toward the front of the queue.

For him, the incident was already over. However, the people around them clearly did not feel the same way.

The atmosphere within the queue had changed completely.

No one dared to approach Grey and Iria.

Even those who had been standing relatively close had unconsciously created more distance between themselves and the two of them.

The disciples of the Flaming Giant Sect had come with arrogance.

They had believed themselves to be cultivators who stood above ordinary people.

Yet, in less than two breaths, half of them had been reduced to corpses.

And the person responsible had not even revealed his true cultivation.

At this moment, the people surrounding Grey finally understood something.

The two figures standing quietly in the queue were not people they could afford to provoke.